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Starting with Inquiry

Habits of Mind of Academic Writers


WHAT IS ACADEMIC WRITING?
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n the strictest sense, academic writing is what
cate with other scholars ln their fields or study, thei ]SCi);n 's the
research repot1 a biologist writes, the interpretive essay a scholar
composes, the media analysis a film scholar produces. At tJre same time,
academic writing is what you have to learn so that you can participate in
the different disciplinary conversations that take place in your courses.
You have to learn to think like an academic, read like an academic, do
research like an academic, and write like an academic-even if you have
no plans to continue your education and become a scholar yourself. Learn-
ing these skills is what this book is about.
Fair warning: It isn't easy. Initially you may be perplexed by the vocab-\..[1
ulary and sentence structure of many of the academic essays you read.
Scholars use specialized language to capture the complexity of an issue or
to introduce specific ideas from their discipline. Every discipline has its
own vocabulary. You probably can think of words and phrases that arc
not used evety day but that arc necessary, nevertheless, to express certain
ideas precisely. For example, consider the terms centrifugal force, Oedi-
pus complex, and onomatoooeia These terms carry with them a history of
study; when you learn to use them, you also are learning to use the ideas
. they represent. Such terms help us describe the world specifically rather
than pmeraUy; they help us better understand how things work and how
-)Q:1tndre better deciSions a60Ut whit matterS to us. ..... - .
' VSentence structure presents another challenge. The sentences in aca-
wtiting are often longer and more intricate than the sentences in
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2 CHAPTER I I STARTING WITH INQUIRY: HABITS OF MINO OF ACADEMIC WRITERS
popular magazines. Academics strive to go beyond what is quick, obvious,
and general. They ask questions based on studying a subject from mul-
tiple points of view, to make surprising connections that would not occur
to someone who has not studied the subject carefully. It follows that aca-
demic writers are accustomed to extensive reading that prepares them to
examine an issue, knowledgeably, from many different perspectives, and to
make interesting intellectual use of what they discover in their research.
To become an adept academic writer. you have to learn these practices
as well.
Academic writing will challenge you, no doubt. But hang in there. Any
initial difficulty you have with academic writing will pay off when you dis-
cover new ways of looking at the world and of making sense of it. Moac-
over. the habits of mind and core skills of academic writing are highly
valued in the world outside the academy.
Basically, academic writing entails making an argument-text crafted
to persuade an audience-often in the sctvice of changing people's minds
and behaviors. When you write an academic essay, you have to
define a situation that calls for some response in writing;
demonstrate the timcline:>s of your argument;
establish a personal investment;
appeal to readers whose minds you want to change by understanding
what they think, believe, and value;
support your argument with good reasons;
anticipate and address readers' reasons for disagreeing \tith you, while
encouraging them to adopt your position.
Academic argument is not about shouting down an opponent. Instead,
it is the careful expression of an idea or perspective based on reasoning
and the insights garnered from a close examination of the arguments oth-
ers have made on the issue.
The chapters in the first part of this book introduce you to the habits of
mind and core skills of academic writing. By .bahita of nalnd, we mean the
patterns of thought that lead you to question assumptions and opinions,
explore alternative opinions, anticipate opposing arguments, compare one
type of experience to another, and identify the causes and consequences of
ideas and events. These forms of critical thfnkJng demand an inquiring
mind that welcomes complexities and seeks out and weighs many differ-
ent points of view, a mind willing to enter complex both in
and out of the academy. We discuss academic habits of mind in the rest of
Chapter I and refer to them throughout this book.
Such habits of mind are especially important today, when we arc bom-
barded with appeals to buy this or that product and with information that
mayor may not be true. For example, in "106 Science Claims and a 1\'uck-
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ACADEMIC WRITERS MAKE INQUIRIES 5
happening? Do things have to be this way?) and examinJng alternatives
(Maybe this doesn't need to exist. Maybe this could happen another way
instead.).
For example .Mark Edmundson, a professor of English at the U.ni-
yeqjtv of Virninia. that his students seem to prefer classes they
(:onsider fun" over those that push them to work hard. This prompts
him to sa how the consumer cul-
ture-has altered the college experience. In the Uses of a
Liberal Education," he wonders what it means that colleges increasingly
see students as customers they need to please with Club Med-style
cise facilities that look "like a retirement spread for the young" more than
as minds to be educated. He further what will happen if we don't
change course-if entertaining students and making them feel good about
themselves continue to be higher priorities than challenging students to
stretch themselves with difficult ideas. Finally, he looks at alternatives to
entertainment-style education and examines those alternatives to see what
they would offer students.
In her reading on the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and
1960s, one of our students observed that the difficulties many immigrant
SlJ groups experienced when they first arrived in the United States are not
acknowledged as stmgglcs for civil rights. This student of Asian descent
(
C) wondered why the difficulties Asians faced in assimilating into American
culture arc not seen as analogous to the efforts of African Ameticans to
gain civil rights (Why arc things this way?). In doing so, she asked a number
of relevant questions: What do we leave out when we tell about our-
n ,\ selves? Why reduce the stt1lgg)e for civil rights to black-and-white tenns?
'<J How can we represent the multiple struggles of people who have contrib-
uted to building our nation? Then she examined alternatives-different
ways of presenting the history of a nation that prides itself on justice and
the protection of its people's civil rights (Maybe this doesn't need to exist.
Maybe this could happen another way.). The academic writing you will
read-and write yourself-starts with questions and seeks to find rich
answers.
Q Observe. Note phenomena or behaviors that puzzle you or chal-
lense your be1ieCs and values.
EJ Ask questions. Consider why things arc the way they arc.
tJ Examine alternatives. Explore how things could be different.
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CHAPTER 1 J STARTING WITH INQUIRY: HABITS Of MIND Of ACADEMIC WRITERS
j A Practice Sequence: Inquiring
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The activities below will help you practice the strategies of observing,
asking questions, and examining alternatives.
Find an advertisement for a political campaign (you can find many
political ads on the Intemet), and write down anything about what
you obsetve in the ad that puzzles you or that challenges your
beliefs and values. Next, write down questions you might have
(Do things have to be this way?). Finally, write down other ways
you think the ad could persuade you to vote for this particular
candidate (Maybe this could happen another way instead.).
2 Locate and analyze data about the students at your school. For
example. you might research the available majors and detctmine
which departments have the highest and lowest enrollments.
(Some schools have fact books that can be accessed online; and
typically the registrar maintains a database with this information.)
Is there anything that puzzles you? Write down .any questions you
have (Why are things the way they me?). What alternative explana-
tions can you provide to account for differences in the popularity
of the subjects sludents major in?
ACADEMIC WRITERS SEEK AND VALUE COMPLEXITY
I
Seeking and valuing complexity are what inquiry is all about. As you read
academic arguments (for example, about school choice), obsctve how
the media work to inOuence yout opinions (for example, in political ads),
or analyze data (for example, about candidates in an election), you will
explore reasons why things arc the way they are and how they might be
different. When you do so, we encourage you not to settle for simple either/
or reasons. Instead, look for multiple explanations.
When we rely on binary thinking-imagining there are only two
sides to an issue-we tend to ignore information that docs not fall tidily
into one side or the other. Think of the sound-bite asset1ions you hear ban-
died about on talk shows on the pretext of "discussing" a hot-button issue
like stem-cell research or abortion: "It's just wrong/right because it is!"
Real-world questions (How has the Intemet changed our sense of what it
means to be a writer? What are the global repercussions of fast food? How
do we make sense of tenorism?) don't have easy for-or-against answers.
Remember that an 1uue is a subject that can be explored and debated.
Issue-based questions, then, need to be approached with a mind open to
complex possibilities. (We say more about identifying issues and formulat-
ing issue-based questions in Chapter 4.)
If we take as an example the issue of terrorism. we would discover that
scholars of religion, economics, ethics, and politics tend to ask very differ-
ACADEMIC WRITERS SEEK AND VALUE COMPlEXITY
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ent questions about ten-orism and to propose very different approaches for
addressing this worldwide problem. This doesn't mean that one approach
is right and the others are wmng; it means that complex issues are likely to
have multiple explanations, rather than a simple choice between A and B.
In her attempt to explain the popularity of the Harry Potte1 books and
movies, Elizabeth Teare, a professor of English, provides a window on the
steps we can take to examine the complexity of a topic. She begins her
essay "Hany Potter and the Technology of Magic" with the observations
that author J. K. Rawling is one of the ten most influential people in pub-
lishing and that her books have "transformed both the technologies or
rending and the way we understand those technologies." Motivated by
a sense of curiosity, if not puzzlement, Teare formulates a guiding ques-
tion: "What is it that makes these books-about a lonely boy whose first
act on learning he is a wizard is to go shopping for a wand-not only an
international phenomenon among children and parents and teachers but
also a topic of compelling interest to literary, social. and cultural cl'itics?"
Notice that in doing so. she indicates that she will examine this question
from the multiple perspectives of literary, social. and cultural critics. To
find answers to this question, Teare explores a range of perspectives from
a variety of sources, including publishers' Web sites, trade journals, aca-
demic studies, and works of fiction for young readers.
One of our students was cmious about why a well-known musician,
Emincm, was at once so widely popular and so bitterly reviled, a phenom-
enon he observed in discussions with friends and in of Eminem's
music. He set out to understand these conOicting by examin-
ing the differing perspectives of music ctitics, politicians, t"Ciigious evan-
gelists, and his peers; and then he formulated an issue-based question:
"How can we explain Eminem's populal"i4 given the ways people criticize
Eminem personally and his music?" In looking at this issue, the student
opened himself to complexity by resisting simple answers to his question
about why Eminem and his music evoked such different and conOicting
responses.
D Reflect on what you observe. Clmify initial interest in a phe-
nomenon or behavior by focusing on its particulat details. Then
reflect on what is most interesting and least interesting to you
about these details, and why.
If) Examine issues from multiple points of view. Imagine more than
two sides to the issue, and recognize that there may well be other
points of view too.
iJ Ask issue-based questions. TI')' to put into words questions that
will help you explore why things are the way they are.

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8 CHAPTER I I STARTING WITH INQUIRY: HABITS OF MIND OF ACADEMIC WRITERS
Sequence: Seeking and Valuing Complexity
.. .. \.' ' "
These activities build on the previous exercises we asked you to
complete.
1 Look again at the political ad. Think about other perspectives that
would complicate your understanding of how the ad might per-
suade voters.
2 Imagine other perspectives on the data you found on the students
in your school. Let's say, for example, that you've looked at data
on student majors. How did you explain the popularity of certain
majors and the unpopularity of others? How do you think other
students would explain these discrepancies? What explanations
would faculty members offer?
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ACADEMICWRJTERS SEE WRITING )
0
th qf)
AS A CONVERSATION . . Cohc;:tC/ern ic
Another habit of mind at the heatt of academic wtiting is the understand- Ve.Jr$r'1-1-.)rn \\
ing that ideas always build on and respond to other ideas, just as they do V"V,/ VLf. I v 11
in the best kind of conversations. Of course, conversations in academic '/ yo{_(fr
writing happen on the page; they are not spoken. Still, these conversations
are quite similar to the conversations you have through e-mail and instant
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I Ti'}] a
messaging: You are responding to something someone VIse has written (or L)
said) and are writing back in anticipation of future responses.
Academic writing also places a high value on the belief that good,
thoughtful ideas come from conversations with others, many others. As
your exposure to other viewpoints increases, as you take more and differ-
ent points of view into consideration and build on them, yom own ideas
will develop more fully and fairly. You already know that to get a full pic-
ture of something, often you have to ask for multiple perspectives. When
you want to find out what "really" happened at an event when your friends
arc telling you different stories, you listen to all of them and then evaluate
the evidence to draw conclusions you can stand behind-just as academic
writers do.
Theologian Martin Marty starts a conversation about hospitality in his
book Whe11 Faiths Collide (2004). Hospitality is a word he uses to describe
a human behavior that has the potential to bring about real understand-
ing among people who do not share a faith or c_ult!lre. As Marty
points out, finding common ground is an especially important and timely
concern "in a world where strangers meet strangers with gunfire, batTie1
walls, spiritually land-mined paths, and the spirit of revenge." lie believes
that people need opportunities to share their stolies, their values, and their
beliefs; in doing so, they feel less threatened by ideas they do not under-
stand or identify with.
ACADEMIC WRITERS SEE WRITING AS A CONVERSAnON 9
Yet Marty anticipates the possibilit.y t.ltat the notion of hospitality
will be met with skepticism or incomprehension by those who find the
term "duinty." Aftet all, he obsetves, that there are hospitality suites and
hospitality industries suggests current usage of the tcnn is different fmm
historical usage, particularly in the Bible. To counter the incredulity or
incomprehension of those who do not immediately understand his usc of
the tenn hospi.tality, Marty gives his t'eaders to a convet'Sation with
other scholars who understand the complexity and power or the kind of
hospitality shown by people who welcome a stranger into their world. 'fhe
stranger he has in mind may simply be the person who moves in next door;
but that person could also be an immigrant, an exile, or a refttgee.
Marty brings another scholar, Dan-ell Fasching, into the conversa-
tion to explain that hospitality entails welcoming "the stranger ... [which)
inevitably involves us in a sympathetic passing ovc1 into the other's life and
stories" (cited in Marty, p. 132). And John Koenig, another scholar Marty
cites, traces the biblical souces of the term in an effort to show the value
of understanding those we feat: That understanding, Marty argues, might
lead to peace among warring factions. 'fhe conversation Marty begins on
the page helps us sec that his views on bringing about peace have their
source in other penple's ideas. In turn, the fact that he draws on multiple
sources gives stt-eugth to Marty's argument.
The characteristics thal make for effecUve oral conve.-sation are also
in play in effc,.;tivc academic conversation: empathy, respect, and a will
ingness to exchange and revise ideas. Empathy is the ability to under:.
stand the perspectives that shape what people think, believe, and value. To
express both and respect for the positions or all people involved in
!he conversation, academic writet-s try to understand the conditions under
which each opinion might be true and then to reprcst!nt the slrengths of
that Jlosition accurately.
Fm example, imagine that your finn commitment to protecting the
environment is ch.allenged by those who sec the value of developing land
rich witll oil and other resources. In challenging their position, il would
setve you well to understand their motives, both economic (lower gac;
prices, new Jobs that will create a demand for new houses) and political
(less dependence on foreign oil). If you can demonstrate your knowledge
of these factors, those committed to developing resources in pl'Otected
areas will listen to you. To convey empathy ami respect wlllc presenting
yoUl' own point of view, you might inti'Oduce your argument by saying:
Although It is important to devi!lop untapped resources in rl!mote areas of the
United States both to lower gas prices and create new jobs and to eliminate our
dependence on other countries' resources, it is in Interest to use alterna-
tive sources or power and protect our natural resources.
As you demonstrate your knowledge and a sense of shared values, you
could also describe the conditions under which you might change your
own position.
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CHAPTER I I STARTING WITH INQUIRY: HABITS OF MIND OF ACADEMIC WRITERS
People engaging in pmductivc conversation tty to create change by
listening and responding to one anothet mther than dominating one an-
other. Jnstead of trying to win an argument, they focus on reaching a
mutual understanding. This does not mean that eiTective communicators
do not take strong positions; more often than not they do. However, they
are more likely to achieve their goals by persuading others instead of
ignoring them and their points of view. Similarly, wtiters come to every
issue with an agenda. But they t-ealize that they may have to compmmise
on certain points to carry those that mean the most to them. More impor-
tant, they understand that their perceptions and opinions may he flawed
or limited, and they at-e willing to revise them when valid new perspectives
are introduced.
In an academic community, ideas develop through give-and-take,
thmugh a conversation that builds on what has come before and grows
stmnger from multiple perspectives. You will find this dynamic at work in
your classes, when you discuss your ideas: You will build on other people's
insights, and they will build on yours. As a habit of mind, paying attention
to academic conversations can improve the thinking arid writing you do in
every class you
D Be receptive to the ideas of others. Lis len carefully and empu
thetically to what others have to say.
il Be respectful of the ideas of others. When you refeJlfo the opin
ions of others, represent them fairly and use an evenhanded tone.
Avoid sounding scornful or dismissive.
1 Engage with the ideas of others. Try to understand how people
have arrived at their feelings and beliefs.
fil 1Je flexible in your thinking about the ideas of others. Be willing
to exchange ideas and to revise your own opinions.
A Practice Sequence: Joining an Academic Conversation
The following excerpt is taken from Thomas Patten;on's 71ze Vanishing
Voter (2002), an examination of voter apathy. Read the excerpt and
then complete the exercises that follow.
Docs a diminished appetite for voting affect the heallh of Amctican pol
itics? Is society harmed when the voting rate is low or in decline? As the
Chicago 1libwre said in an editorial, it may be "humiliating" that the
United Slates, the oldest continuous democracy, has ncady the lowest
voting rnlc in the world. But does it have any practical significance? ...

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